Merry Month of May Movie Meme

Lovely Genimate Pauleen Cass from Family History across the seas came up with this great meme. Wanna play along?  Here are the questions:


What’s the earliest movie you can remember?

My mother told me that the first movie I ever saw was A Hard Day's Night with the Beatles but the first I can remember is probably Fantasia.

Where did you go to the movies (place or type of venue)?

For the most part, when I remember movie going days I'm thinking of Canberra. There were a couple of places to go in the 70s - there was a pretty uninspiring cinema in the heart of town - the Civic - but it had all the big movies so I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there and Sound of Music I think.  Our favourite cinema by far was the Center Cinema and I have blogged about it and other cinemas/drive-ins here.

Did you buy movie programs?

Um no?  Did they exist? Why was I not told? 

Did you take in food and drink (and what did you like)?

Yes.  I never tired of Fantales and reading all about the actors though usually the ones I was most interested in - Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford...were always at the bottom of the wrapper with their bio cut in half!

Movies of your teenage years?

The Way we Were....oh my God...I remember my mother asking my friend and I if there were any questionable scenes in it.  "Oh no!" we both fibbed.  Well there probably weren't really when I think about it.

Love Story

The Blob!

Do you remember how old you were when you went unsupervised?

I reckon I probably got to be about 12 when I was allowed to go to the movies with a friend alone.

Mischief you got up to in the movies?

Mischief? Moi?  I remember being very brave once and not standing for the National Anthem and I didn't die but that was only because my Mother wasn't around.

Did you watch movies at home?

Yes..yes...yes and yes.  We were a big movie family.  My mother thought she'd died and gone to heaven when I got a job at the Film School and even got to go on movie sets occasionally.  

What was your favourite movie to watch at home?

We never really had a favourite that we would watch over and over again from memory, although my mother did derive much comfort from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies.  Or something like the Elizabeth Taylor version of Jane Eyre or hearing the immortal opening lines of Rebecca.  

Although from time to time we would drag out The Importance of Being Ernest just to hear Lady Bracknell (Dame Edith Evans) intone "To lose one parent Mr Worthing may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness."





Do you prefer to watch movies at home or at the cinema?

I confess I now prefer to watch movies at the cinema.  The opportunity for interruption at home is too great ("Where are my socks?" etc). It has to be a good cinema though - Palace or Dendy - not one of those ghastly multiplexes.

Does your family have a special movie memory?

I don't know about the family having one...I do remember sitting in a cinema in London with my mother aged about 17 and crying watching The Getting of Wisdom or some other Australian film like it.  I'd seen it before but the sky seemed so big in the movie and the sky seemed so small in London and I was ready to go home.

Movies you fell in love to/with?

Oh well I guess it would have to be Woody Allen movies that Robbie and I fell in love with.  I was living in Glebe then and there was a fantastic cinema that would show all the arthouse movies there...the Valhalla ....we must have seen Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and her Sisters...at the time.


Favourite romantic movie theme music:

My favourite music composers are Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer...I don't know about them being romantic....but yes, of course, the last scene of Cinema Paradiso....how could I forget?




Favourite musical movie?

I'm not really into musicals but I have to say that Westside Story did it for me...





Which movies made you want to dance/sing?

For some inexplicable reason The Blues Brothers movie escaped me for many years...I only discovered it last year, can you believe....so many favourite scenes from that movie....




Do you watch re-runs or DVDs of old movies?

Not very often mostly because a lot of what I want to see I don't have on the right medium anymore - we had to run out and buy Zulu the other day just to remember what it was like.  It still stood up.

Do your children/family enjoy the same movies?

By and large yes....sometimes we get a shock when someone doesn't have the same sense of humour we do....we howled with laughter at some of the scenes in Burn after Reading but it's not for everyone....language warning....this movie made me realise that Brad Pitt is actually a comedian.





What’s your favourite movie genre now?

Hard to say....I love a good comedy but my sense of comedy is probably a bit off the wall...I like really dark movies too which is not everyone's cup of tea..by dark I mean, sad, not scary...I'm a wus when it comes to scary movies.

Did you read the book before or after the movie?

Both - I love seeing how a book is realised... and I love reading the book after the movie.

I loved reading Colm Toibin's Brooklyn and was quite pleased with the realisation on film

Which did you enjoy more, the book or the movie?

Some are dreadful...some are better than the book....it's hard to say.

What’s the silliest movie you’ve seen (silly funny or silly annoying)?

Oh well Leonardo in The Beach is pretty hard to beat.  I love Leonardo but this was without a doubt his worst movie.

Pet hate in movies?

People not laughing at the funny bits because I have a very loud laugh.

A movie that captures family history for you?

What an interesting question.  Crikey. I don't know. Let me think on that for a bit. Ooh I've got it...now you really must see this movie if you haven't and you are a family historian...it is right on the money and so good...Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell....




If you could only play 5 movies for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Oh see now that is so hard because there are so many good ones and probably many more to come and what do we want to capture?  Magnificent scenery? Magnificent performances? What it means to be human? Love? Man's inhumanity to man?  The beautiful creatures on this planet.  "Unfair!"  she cried - so here's my list...for the minute....

Amelie

Whale Rider

Cinema Paradiso

To Kill a Mockingbird

Grand Budapest Hotel


Favourite movie stars (go ahead and list as many as you like):

Oh dear - way too many....

Helen Mirren - wasn't she fabulous in The Queen?

Meryl Streep - so many to choose - I loved The Iron Lady and The Prairie Home Companion.

Kate Winslet - Finding Neverland - try watching that without crying

Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd was fabulous!

Carey Mulligan - Never Let Me Go - I couldn't speak for half an hour after witnessing that movie and that is saying something.

Cate Blanchett - that voice! in the Lord of the Rings and Blue Jasmine was a stellar performance.

Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves - very heavy stuff - have someone good with you when you watch this film.

Jackie Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Geoffrery Rush - The King's Speech to name but one of his many magnificent performances

Ben Mendelsohn - Animal Kingdom

Anthony Hopkins - World's Fastest Indian

Kevin Spacey - well of course House of Cards but American Beauty was my favourite.

Christopher Walken - everything he's ever been in.

Tommy Lee Jones - I'm a bit late to the party with Mr Jones and have only just discovered him....No Country for Old Men was when I sat up and took notice.

Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line did it for me.

I'll shut up now.  Thanks Pauleen!